Zbigniew Preisner

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Zbigniew Preisner (2011)

Zbigniew Antoni Preisner (born May 20, 1955 in Bielsko-Biała ) is a Polish composer . His original name is Zbigniew Kowalski, which he later gave up for the name of his wife. He became internationally known for his film music , especially his work for the director Krzysztof Kieślowski . Along with Wojciech Kilar , he is the most important film music composer from Poland.

Life

Preisner studied history and philosophy in Krakow , but never had music lessons. He began as a self-taught , writing down notes from listening to records. Preisner is best known for his work on Kieślowski's films. For some of these films he used the Dutch pseudonym Van den Budenmayer . After writing the music for Drei Farben: Blau he was asked by Hollywood producer Francis Ford Coppola if he would write the music for The Secret Garden (directed by Agnieszka Holland ) and accepted.

Although Preisner was closely associated with Kieślowski, he has also written for other directors. In 1994 he won a César a César for Three Colors: Red , in 1996 for his music to Jean Becker's Elisa and in 1997 a Silver Bear at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival for The Island on Bird Street .

In 1998 Preisner wrote the Requiem for my friend , his first large-scale work that was not intended for film. It was originally intended as a prosaic work (text: Krzysztof Piesewicz / staging: Krzysztof Kieślowski), but after Kieślowski's death it became the requiem for his friend. Paolo Sorrentino used the sequence Dies Irae in his film La Grande Bellezza .

Preisner also the theme music written for the 26-part BBC - Documentation People's century (1998). He also worked with David Gilmour . At the end of Gilmour's “On An Island” tour in Gdansk, Preisner conducted the 40-piece string orchestra of the Baltic Philharmonic. He was also responsible for the orchestral arrangements for David Gilmour's album "On An Island" (Titles: Castellorizon, On an Island, Take a Breath, Red Sky at Night, This Heaven, Then I Close My Eyes, Smile, A Pocketful of Stones, Where We Start).

Joni Mitchell's Travelogue CD , released in 2002, contains a version of Preisner's Song for the unification of Europe , originally written for Three Colors: Blue.

His musical style is mainly romantic , with influences from Jean Sibelius . In the Kieślowski music he mainly uses strong dynamic contrasts, string ensembles and unusual instruments such as the organ .

Works

Published film scores

Unpublished film scores

  • 1981: Weather forecast (Director: Antoni Krauze)
  • 1985: Without End (Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski)
  • 1986: When Vampires Love (Director: Grzegorz Warchol)
  • 1986: Przez dotyk (Director: Magdalena Łazarkiewicz )
  • 1987: The Lullabye (Director: Federo Sevella)
  • 1987: Ucieczka (Director: Tomasz Szadkowski)
  • 1988: A short film about killing (Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski)
  • 1988: A short film about love (Director: Krzysztof Kieślowski)
  • 1988: Kocham kino (Director: Piotr Łazarkiewicz)
  • 1988: Dziewczynka z hotelu Excelsior (Director: Antoni Krauze)
  • 1988: Sami dla siebie (Director: Stanisław Jędryka)
  • 1989: The last bell (Direction: Magdalena Łazarkiewicz )
  • 1990: Utolsó hajó (Direction: Béla Tarr )
  • 1992: Zwolnieni z życia (Director: Waldemar Krzystek)
  • 1993: Vanishing Point (Director: Fernando Lopes)
  • 1994: Radetzkymarsch (Director: Axel Corti )
  • 1995: De Aegypto (Director: Jolanta Ptaszynska)
  • 1996: Corazón iluminado (Director:)
  • 1997: The Island in Vogelstrasse (Direction: Søren Kragh-Jacobsen )
  • 1997: Migrations (as Van den Budenmayer ) (Director: Constantin Chamski)
  • 1998: Liv (Director: Edoardo Ponti )
  • 1998: My Love for Joseph Lees (Director: Eric Styles)
  • 2003: Kolysanka (Director: Efraim Sevela )
  • 2003: SuperTex (Director: Jan Schütte )
  • 2005: Harrys döttrar (Director: Richard Hobert)
  • 2006: Sportsman of the Century (Director: Mischa Alexander)
  • 2007: A Secret (Directed by Claude Miller )
  • 2008: Menachem & Fred (Directors: Ofra Tevet and Ronit Kertsner)

Compilations

  • 1995: Preisner's Music
  • 2003: Kieślowski / Preisner

Others

  • 1998: Requiem for My Friend (dedicated to Krzysztof Kieślowski, used in The Tree of Life )
  • 1999: 10 łatwych utworów na fortepian (10 easy pieces for piano; recorded by Leszek Możdżer )
  • 2007: Silence, Night & Dreams (together with Tereza Salgueiro )
  • 2010: The Funeral (Director: Thomas Vinterberg, Burgtheater Vienna)
  • 2013: Diaries of Hope (based on diaries and poems by children who were victims of the Holocaust )

literature

  • Zbigniew Preisner - "You always have to swim against the current to the source, because garbage flows with the current" , interview with Annette Richter and Klaus Post, in: Cinema Musica . Issue 2 / October 2005, pp. 14-19

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Emmerson: Zbigniew Preisner and Lisa Gerrard: Diaries of Hope. Reviewed November 23, 2013 on icareifyoulisten.com (English).
personal data
SURNAME Preisner, Zbigniew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Preisner, Zbigniew Antoni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish film music composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielsko-Biała